The A.G. Gaston Motel restoration project has received a $1.1 million grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to go toward restoration of the interior coffee shop and dining room in the 1968 wing of the historic motel. Read more.
The prison construction bill the Alabama Legislature will consider in next week’s special session expressly closes five prisons in the state but leaves the futures of others up to decision makers at a later date. Men’s facilities Hamilton Aged and Infirmed Center, Staton, Elmore and Kilby and the Julia Tutwiler women’s prison would be closed under the bill in its draft form. The prison plan’s first phase includes two new 4,000-bed prisons in Elmore and Escambia counties and allows the state to borrow up to $785 million for their construction. Phase two includes a new women’s prison, though there’s no dedicated funding for that project in the bill. Read more.
“Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in!” — Al Pacino from The Godfather Part 3 Tony Petelos could have recited Pacino’s famous line except the retiring county manager knew he wasn’t out. At least not yet. Cal Markert, the deputy county manager who was recently hired to be county manager, was called on to present the report of the county manager during Tuesday’s committee meeting of the Jefferson County Commission. Markert mentioned that Petelos was in his office, taking in the meeting via livestream. Hearing that, commissioners asked Petelos to join them for his final committee meeting. “I've said once and I've said it again and again and again,” Petelos said. “We have good staff in place. I feel confident about the staff in the county. You commissioners work well together. You don't agree on everything but you do work well together.” Read more.
USA Economy Lodge has had 151 calls over the past six months. The Birmingham City Council is giving it eight weeks to turn the operation around and could revoke its business license. Read more.
WBHM For the past 16 years, Birmingham City Councilor Steven Hoyt has represented areas such as Ensley, West End and Five Points West. But Hoyt will leave office next month after choosing not to run for reelection. His last meeting is Oct. 19. Read more.
The proposed plan to build new prisons in Alabama would also allow the purchase of the empty, privately owned prison in Perry County to hold parole violators who are crowding some county jails around the state. The Perry County Correctional Facility "has always been the Rubik’s Cube of the prison problem that no one’s ever been really able to figure out,” Alabama Bureau of Pardons and Parole Director Cam Ward told Alabama Daily News. Built in the 2000s, Ward said, it’s a good 730-bed facility but its remote location and distance from medical care has been a challenge to operations. At one point, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement used the space. “But it’s never been used to capacity,” Ward said. Ward and other state leaders will meet with GEO Group, the private prison company that owns the site, this week, about the possible purchase. Read more.
MONTGOMERY — More than $5 billion of unemployment benefits has been blocked from being sent out in Alabama due to concerns of fraud during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the Alabama Department of Labor. That is an unprecedented amount and a problem seen all across the country, ADOL Secretary Fitzgerald Washington said. “Since the pandemic, ADOL has received more claims than ever before, which has significantly increased the risks of fraud,” Washington said in a statement to Alabama Daily News. “Federal programs with increased weekly benefits made it even more appealing to criminals looking to defraud the system.” Read more.
MONTGOMERY — State Representative Steve Clouse, R-Ozark, who is set to sponsor the new prison building legislation for a likely special session, said he has about 70% of House Republicans responding positively to the bill as of Tuesday afternoon. Read more.
Jefferson County Commissioner Joe Knight displayed a more relaxed countenance Thursday when it became clear the 2022 Jefferson County budget would be balanced and approved. “Since about the middle of July, it's been one thing after another,” said Knight, who chairs the commission’s finance and budget committees. “The best part of my year is going to be Monday when me and my wife take off for a week.” The $882,750,611 budget, passed unanimously by the commission, includes a 3% across-the-board raise for county employees. That accounted for an additional $3.3 million to the payroll. “Then you add $1.7 million of merit raises in that next year,” Knight said. “That moves that starting point up $5 million." Read more.
Jefferson County Commissioner Sheila Tyson hosted about 75 people at Lawson State Community College Tuesday night to talk about redistricting of legislative and congressional districts and what citizens can do to affect it. “This is not a county initiative,” Tyson said. “This is a people initiative.” The town hall meeting was done to answer questions about redistricting and to let citizens know what they can do to possibly affect how districts are redrawn to account for population shifts documented in the 2020 Census. Read more.
